La Conferenza di Atene del 1931. Rilettura critica di alcuni documenti conservati nell’archivio di Gustavo Giovannoni

The Gustavo Giovannoni Archive housed in the Centro di Studi per la Storia dell’Architettura (Rome, Casa dei Crescenzi) has an extensive collection of documents about the architectural debate and events that took place at the Athens Conference (October 1931) sponsored by the Greek government. The final document entitled The Athens Charter of Restoration was presented at the end of the conference, gaining worldwide fame due to its international status and regulatory contents. Thanks to the input of hundreds of experts several important problems regarding the protection and restoration of architectural monuments were debated during the conference. Most of Giovannoni’s material remains unpublished; it includes photographs and printed documents with interesting in-depth considerations on issues such as: the restoration of individual monuments, the context of architectural works, “environmental rationale”, parks and gardens, urban problems and juridical considerations. His neat, accurate notes and correspondence provide a clear but sometimes brutal picture of the activities and personal experience of his sojourn in Athens. The objective of this contribution is to carry out an inclusive review of the activities performed in Italy in the early decades of the twentieth century by focusing on the most important and significant examples of restoration presented during the Conference. These activities include several different kinds of interventions ranging from consolidation to the use of new materials, from restoration/recomposition to removal, and from completion to innovation. Accordingly, this contribution is an opportunity to not only critically review a chapter in the history of restoration, but also to rethink, reassess or question the conceptual basis of culture during that period as well as focus on the cultural and operational effects triggered by the international meeting.